


Shopping is Difficult (even for a modern speaker)

by littlegrayraincloud



Series: Writing Challenges [4]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Gen, No Slash, Post-Canon, Reincarnation, arthur should not be trusted with the shopping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-07-15 16:07:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7229341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlegrayraincloud/pseuds/littlegrayraincloud
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur decides it's time for him to go shopping on his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shopping is Difficult (even for a modern speaker)

**Author's Note:**

> Part of my 30 Day Writing Challenge. Day Six-Write about a person who would buy all those items from Day Five. (see the end notes for Day Five's work.)
> 
> So much for this being a "30 day" challenge. Now it's more like a "30 works" challenge. Life got more than a little crazy, so the challenge got put on the back burner until everything settled down. Now I hope to finish this up in a more timely manner!

“Let’s see, Merlin said to buy beef….and carrots and onion and celery….and something else….” Arthur looks around in dismay. Coming back from the dead was difficult, but shopping in this modern market is damn-near impossible.

He’s already been back for 8 months and 17 days, and living with Merlin in his “flat” for 8 months and 10 days. He refuses to tell Merlin much beyond the absolute necessary about what went on those first 7 days. He knows his (former) manservant would tease him mercilessly if he found out Arthur had been living under a bridge, terrified of the mechanical beasts (which Merlin called “automobiles”) that crossed the bridge incessantly. 

In that time, Arthur has begun to adapt to the modern standards of living. He is no longer shouting “Sorcery!” every time something in their flat moves or lights up. He still doesn’t TRUST the “electricity” that makes it all work, but he has come to accept that it isn’t a complete threat to his and Merlin’s lives.

This morning, he decided that, after several (mostly successful) trips out to the market with Merlin, he is ready to try shopping for them on his own. When he announced this to Merlin over breakfast (some sort of crispy-milky dish called “Cheerios” with a cup of that bitter hot beverage called “coffee”), Merlin stared at him for a full three minutes without blinking. Finally, after pointing out that, with the “credit card” negating the need for Arthur to have to figure out the paper-and-coin money, and the shop being on the corner across from their building, there were not many things that could go terribly wrong. So, Merlin wrote Arthur a list in the modern language, since Arthur insisted that he could (mostly) read it with no trouble, and gave him the credit card. Merlin had instructed him on how to use the machine at the store several times already. Merlin also made sure to verbally tell Arthur the list, in case he had any trouble reading Merlin’s handwriting (which was Arthur’s usual complaint when he couldn’t decipher the new words’ meaning and was too embarrassed to admit it.)

Arthur had little trouble making new word connections to items and food that had existed in the past. Many new words were similar to old ones. But he still struggled when there was a word for an item that didn’t exist back then. Like this last item. 

“Okay. There is one thing on this list I can’t read. It’s got a C. I recognize that.” It doesn’t help matters that it had started to rain right before Arthur left for the shop and the list had gotten rained on, smearing the ink.

“Merlin said we were having stew for supper, so it must be a plant for the stew.” Arthur walks over to the area of the store where the harvested plants are sold. He still marvels at the modern ability to buy any sort of food you like, even when it is not the right time of year. He looks at the item tags, and begins to pick up anything that starts with the letter C and put it in the basket with the items he’s already picked out from the list. 

Pleased with his ingenuity, Arthur takes his basket up to the checkout, ignoring the slightly strange looks the clerk is giving him. He is able to use the credit card machine without any trouble (this time). Feeling pretty pleased with himself, Arthur grabs the shopping bags and hefts them out of the market, across the road, and upstairs to the flat. Merlin, who is sitting at the kitchen table with the “laptop”, looks up as Arthur drags the bags (which may have been slightly heavier than he could manage) into the room. 

“What on earth is all of this?!” Merlin asks. There had been barely enough items on the list to fill one bag, let alone 5.

“The groceries!” Arthur says proudly as he sets the bags on the counter and leaves the room. Merlin is particular about where groceries go (like milk going into the “refrigerator”), and Arthur has learned to just leave him to it.

Merlin stands up and walks over to the counter, cautiously. He finds most of the items from the list in one bag: the beef, the onions, the carrots, and the celery. But then he also finds cherries, cantaloupe, corn on the cob, cashews, croutons, cucumbers, cilantro, cherry tomatoes, cabbage, chiquita bananas, cilantro paste, chili peppers, caesar salad mix, cayenne peppers, chives, collard greens, cloves of garlic, citrus fruits, cobb salad mix, chef salad mix, coconuts, coleslaw, and cranberries. 

He wants so badly to ask Arthur about his apparent obsession with the letter C, but….he thinks about how proud Arthur was as he was able to not only complete this task without Merlin, but, in a way, he has provided food for the household. He knows how much Arthur misses being in charge, misses the life he had. So...Merlin smiles, and decides that he should look up what he is supposed to cook with collard greens. 

He just wished that Arthur had remembered to pick up the food for their cat, Aithusa....

**Author's Note:**

> 30 Day Challenge, Day Five: Pick a letter of the alphabet. Now imagine two aisles of your local supermarket. List everything found in those two aisles that begin with that letter of the alphabet.
> 
> (originally posted to my tumblr)
> 
> The letter I picked is C, and the aisle is the produce aisle at my Safeway (does Safeway exist in other areas of the United States?)
> 
> We have cherries, cantaloupe, corn on the cob, cashews (in the raw nuts (heehee) bins), croutons, cucumbers, celery, cilantro, cherry tomatoes, cabbage, chiquita bananas, cilantro paste, chili peppers, caesar salad mix, carrots, cayenne peppers, chives, collard greens, cloves of garlic, citrus fruits, cobb salad mix, chef salad mix, coconuts, coleslaw, and cranberries.
> 
> The challenge is from this tumblr post: http://30daychallengearchive.tumblr.com/post/832610035/writing-prompt-30-day-challenge.
> 
> I post all of my non-fandom related works on my tumblr, also. If you want to check them out, come find me! I lurk under the same name as I do here :)


End file.
